Fictitious donations to the Church. Parish priest and 45 entrepreneurs facing charges

So far, 45 people have been charged in connection with an investigation conducted by the District Prosecutor's Office in Siedlce regarding fictitious donations for religious purposes. The suspects include a parish priest from Masovia, as well as company managers and entrepreneurs from several voivodeships. The matter is developing.

Prosecutor Bartłomiej Świderski from the District Prosecutor's Office in Siedlce informed PAP on Wednesday that charges are planned to be brought against additional people in the near future.

The charges concern both fraud (punishable by up to 12 years in prison) and fiscal offenses – said prosecutor Świderski.

Mechanism: Transfer to the parish, cash in hand

The suspects include company managers and entrepreneurs – including: from the province Masovia, Warmia-Masuria, Łódź, Lublin and Silesia, who, due to their high income, had to pay high income tax to the tax office every year.

To reduce these amounts, decided to use the tax deduction option for donations for religious purposes. The parish priest in Budy Barczackie near Mińsk Mazowiecki was willing to cooperate in this field. Businessmen recommended his unusual services through word of mouth.

The criminal practice involved the suspects making fictitious donations for religious purposes every year between 2016 and 2024. These amounts ranged from PLN 10,000 to PLN 350,000. zloty

According to investigators, after certain amounts were credited to the parish account, the priest made cash withdrawals from the account and – after deducting the so-called commission – he returned the remaining part of the funds to donors, constituting 90%. the original amount paid.

The parish priest issued “certificates” confirming a donation of a specific amount for religious purposes.

Fictitious donation receipts and real losses

In the investigators' opinion, the suspects' behavior was aimed at creating the appearance of making donations and demonstrating this circumstance in the annual income tax settlement from natural and legal persons.

As a result of these criminal activities, “donors” paid smaller amounts of tax due or received a refund of the overpayment. They also provided false information in their tax returns.

Due to the criminal activity, the State Treasury lost over PLN 2.5 million.

The first people were arrested last fall. Initially, the court imposed temporary arrest on some of the suspects. Over time, they were changed to non-custodial preventive measures, such as property bail, police supervision and a ban on contacting identified persons. So far, property worth almost PLN 14 million has been seized from suspects. (PAP)

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